Ministry Opportunities for May 2010

For people who have been feeling a bit uptight, have some FUN with FUMC:

Mother’s Day in Church
May 11th

Graduating Senior Kevin Anderson shares the morning message! Come and learn what Kevin has seen over the past years and where is making plans to go in the years ahead! He will make you proud!

We will celebrate our families by bringing simple flowers from our homes or neighborhoods (even greenery is welcome!). We will collect all of these signs of Spring in our yellow buckets and form a beautiful display in honor of our families. If you would like to share with all of us a minute or two story about your mother or child or even someone else’s parent or children, contact Pastor Doug before Sunday: 781-913-2799 or pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.

We will also celebrate the baptism of Nick and Tamera Brickl’s son Aaron. Don’t miss the chance to sing Aaron a lullaby on Mother’s Day!

Church Clean-Up
Saturday May 22nd
Interested helpers e-mail Trustee Chairperson Jeff Czerwinski jeffcz@pga.com.

Clean cobwebs—dust tables—cover scratches in pews—trim hedges—clear-out closets. There is a one-hour task for every one of every age. We always have fun cleaning together!

Hudson Fest
June 5th
Interested helpers call or write to Ada, a.arenstrup17@verizon.net or 978-618-7350 OR the church office, Bonnie@hopeforhudson.com 978-562-2932

BOOTH downtown
5 people needed to set-up booth, handout free water and distribute free flower bulbs while we share information about our church. 8:30-10:30 Set-Up Crew. 10:30 to 1:30 Hand-Out Crew. 1:30 to 3 Take-Down crew.

YARD SALE church parking lot
Drop-Off and price goods Thursday after 7pm through Friday evening.
Remember, no clothing donations.
Sale Opens at 9AM. Help us set-up at 8AM and take down after 3PM

BBQ church parking lot
We need a few folks to make salads and three or four general helpers to clean tables and offer greetings to newcomers. And of course bring the family for some GREAT Barbecue with all the fixin’s!

Sunday School and Vacation Bible Camp Areas

We are preparing NOW for FUN new Educational Offerings:

Vacation Bible Camp
Sunday August 15 through Thursday, August 19th
EVENINGS!
Beginning with cook-out at 5:30 and ending with campfire at 8.
Interested helpers see our VBC Page, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526#!/group.php?gid=113204568701755, or contact Stacey Hartford shartford1874@yahoo.com .

If you are an Adult or High School Teen, we want to know if you…
· Enjoy recreation with kids?
· Enjoy watching videos and talking about it?
· Enjoy theater?
· Enjoy showing kids cool science experiments?
· Enjoy leading silly songs?
· Enjoy the creation of art?

Can you join a team one or two nights to help cook for 70 people?
Can you help us paint a classroom and create an indoor forest?
Can you lead a group of young teens hiking, biking and window-shopping in Hudson?
Can you invest two hours a day for one week with some precious children?

Summer Planning for Fall Learning
Interested helpers please call Pastor Doug 781-913-2799 or e-mail Pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.

Our educational model next year will be new. It will look a lot more like Vacation Bible Camp and feel a lot less like school or “church”. Kids will really want to attend and adults leader will find it much easier and more rewarding assisting the kids in their learning.

We will be using what is called the “rotation” model. You can read a brief three page introduction to the model at this site: http://www.rotation.org/outlook.htm

In our church, we might offer the same “rotations” as we will at Vacation Bible Camp. One area may be dedicated to showing science experiments, another focuses on Art projects, another focuses on recreation, another helps kids experience the Bible story as a drama, another area invites kids to cook! The overall theme for the six week group of rotations might be the story of the Exodus from Egypt. So in the science rotation, the kids are making good and bad bricks and learning how Egyptions might have used Hebrew slave labor. The teacher offers that same lesson five times over five weeks. The teacher and lesson don’t change, but each week a new pack of kids does. The kids rotate from a previous lesson—maybe they cooked flat-bread the week before—and into the science rotation.

We will need teachers and lovers of children who enjoy cooking or science experiments or storytelling or recreation or showing DVDs and websites to help kids grow in faith and knowledge. We also need shepherds who will stay with the same kids week to week. Shepherds have no lesson to prepare, rather they make sure kids and their needs are remembered week-to-week. If you would like to be in on this awesome experiment for 2010, please find us on the Hope For Hudson Facebook Page here: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=109123902448060 Look for the SUNDAY Education Forum.

For people who have been feeling like they have more to offer in life, but are wary of getting over-involved. A range of options to do some good:

Buy an Adirondack Chair
Support the Adult Mission Team!
Requests for chairs should be e-mailed to Steve: steve.albino@oracle.com, or Jim james.m.niro@lmco.com.

Stephen Ministry/CARE Team

A New Stephen Ministry Training Series will be held Wednesday nights over the summer.
Interested members please write to Susan at s.niro@raytheon.com

Stephen Ministers are trained to form special weekly, caring relationships with people who are suffering and need a friend to talk with. Many in our church already know the value of the training (see the bulletin board in Lamson Hall to find out who they are!) and many others have privately, gladly accepted the help. We want to expand this opportunity to more Care-Givers and Care Receivers to respond to the longer-term needs of people in crisis.

Care Team Forming
Interested members please write to Barbra Kirk cwa1290@yahoo.com

One simple visit to the hospital can completely change a patient’s outlook! One simple meal delivered with love or one simple card or phone call can erase a week of misery and a month of loneliness. How can you help the Care Team respond to short-term needs of individuals in crisis?

Children Acolytes
Interested parents of grade school children may call Stacey 978-875-1238.

This Summer we will bring back the participation of children as candle-lighters. Once we have enough interested families we will offer an acolyte training at a convenient time.

For people been feeling disconnected from God or the church lately:

(5 minutes)
Share Your Opinion About Summer Worship Times
Visit our Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526

This year we would like to offer a service on Thursday nights in Lamson Hall at 6:30PM and a service Sunday mornings at 9:30AM. Both services will feature similar music, scripture and messages for adults and children. The Thursday service offers a bit more informality and the opportunity to be away on the weekend without missing live worship at FUMC Hudson. The service on Sunday is early enough to keep sanctuary participants cool and to offer a full day summer activities after 10:30.

In consultation with our food coordinator, Barbara Moore, in the summertime we would like to shift away from a table full snacks and cheeses and punch toward a simple option of coffee (or cold water or tea) and one breakfast-like baked-good like small muffin. We would charge an affordable fee for the snack. Parents will appreciate knowing that the kids will not be racing down to eat goodies without supervision and the small fee will pay for the paper goods and food that tend to cost annually around $800.

Have an opinion about these? Share it on the Worship Team page of Facebook or write to pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.

(2 hours)
Offer Your Song this Summer
If you have a special song for worship which you would like someone to share or if YOU would like to offer it, please contact Deacon Erika: Erika@hopeforhudson.com

(5 months)
Serve on an IMPORTANT Short –Term Task Force
Please contact Pastor Doug by phone: 781-913-2799

What is working really well at FUMC Hudson?
How can we better reach those in our community who have a hard-as-rock indifference to the message of Jesus’ love?
How can we best address inequalities and injustice in our community that sap hope from our neighborhoods?
How can we restructure our church so that our ministry produces fruit which is not tangled by the weeds of excessive time-commitments, financial burdens or other outmoded assumptions.

Small groups will research the answers to these questions and present findings the larger church in August, September and October. Our goal is to propose new initiatives to our next annual meeting in the Fall of 2010.

The group will be composed by nomination from church leaders (3), nomination from pastor (3) and self-nomination (3) for a total of nine. Self nominations are welcome at this time.


(3 Years, one meeting a month)
FUMC Leadership
Contact Pastor Doug: pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com

The Trustees, Staff Parish Relations Committee, Finance and Stewardship committees are all looking for dedicated participants of FUMC Hudson.

People who have expertise in law, construction, real estate, business management might most enjoy membership on the trustees.